Fantastically Wrong: The Murderous Plant That Grows From the Blood of Hanged Men | WIRED Fantastically Wrong: The Murderous Plant That Grows From the Blood of Hanged Men subscribe 6 months for $5 - plus a FREE Portable Phone Charger. On Twitter 2 hours Slack has started rolling out threaded messaging, which allows users to connect related messages in a given chatroom bit.ly/2joimKu Follow Advertisement. Slide: 1 / of 4. Caption: Caption: The root of the mandrake plant was once thought to scream when pulled from the ground, rendering agonizing death to all those without wax in their ears. Well, extra wax, I mean—like, a lot of it. Simply not swabbing your ears won’t save you from anything, much less a homicidal plant. Image: Wikimedia Slide: 2 / of 4. Caption: Caption: Based on this little fella's eyes, you'd think he was an opium poppy. He's actually a mandrake who may or may not have a drug problem. Image: Wikimedia Slide: 3 / of 4. Caption: Caption: Mandrake roots can look strangely human-like.

This one needs to get to the gym to take care of those thighs. Image: Wikimedia Slide: 4 / of 4. Caption: Caption: To extract mandrakes, simply sacrifice the family dog by tying it to the plant and tempting it with a treat. "I'm gonna go this way," says the man in red, "so you die instead of me. It's been real!" Image: Wikimedia Author: Matt Simon. Matt Simon Science Date of Publication: 06.18.14. Time of Publication: 6:30 am. 6:30 am Fantastically Wrong: The Murderous Plant That Grows From the Blood of Hanged Men The root of the mandrake plant was once thought to scream when pulled from the ground, rendering agonizing death to all those without wax in their ears. Well, extra wax, I mean—like, a lot of it. Simply not swabbing your ears won’t save you from anything, much less a homicidal plant. Wikimedia As a child, no villain was to me more savage than the zucchini.

My mother grew the scoundrels in the backyard, and whether she was deliberately scheming to improve her yields, or the climate just happened to have been ideal those years, season after season they got bigger and bigger. They grew so large and numerous that I eventually had to leave home—mostly because I went to college, but the zucchini certainly didn’t help. Fantastically Wrong It's OK to be wrong, even fantastically so. Because when it comes to understanding our world, mistakes mean progress. From folklore to pure science, these are history’s most bizarre theories. Browse the full archive here . I realize now that I had been quite lucky in my tanglings with zucchini, for in the Mediterranean there grows a far more murderous plant called the mandrake. Its roots can look bizarrely like a human body, and legend holds that it can even come in male and female form. It’s said to spring from the dripping fat and blood and semen of a hanged man. Dare pull it the from the earth and it lets out a monstrous scream, bestowing agony and death to all those within earshot.

Yet there is a way to safely uproot a mandrake—safely, that is, if you aren’t a dog with a bastard of an owner. If you really, really want one, the myths say to tie a hungry hound’s leash or even its tail to the plant. Back away, plug your ears with wax (a folkloric echo, by the way, of Odysseus ordering his crew to do the same as they passed the devious Sirens), and reveal a treat. The overzealous dog will sprint and consequently uproot the mandrake, but will immediately keel over in searing pain as its quarry lies there screaming. Based on this little fella’s eyes, you’d think he was an opium poppy. He’s actually a mandrake who may or may not have a drug problem. Wikimedia How did it come to this? When did we start sacrificing our pets to shouting plants? How could our legendary fear and hatred of the mandrake surpass even my legendary fear and hatred of zucchini? In reality, mandrakes aren’t what you would call “super great” for human consumption, at least in large quantities.

It’s a member of the famously deadly nightshade family , plants that contain, among other toxins, the highly poisonous compound solanine, which naturally wards off insects. (Tomatoes and potatoes, by the way, also belong to this family and do indeed contain solanine , though the bulk of the compound is isolated to the leaves instead of the edible bits.) These solanum alkaloids also are present in the mandrake, but their side effects of delirium and gastrointestinal distress and even shock didn’t bother the ancient Greeks nohow. They valued the mandrake for the number of other compounds that give it soporific properties, that is, the root can make you really sleepy. Indeed, the Greeks used it as an anesthetic for surgery, a practice that continued into the Middle Ages. The Greeks also used it as an aphrodisiac, steeping the root in wine or vinegar—mandrake is known as the “love-apple of the ancients,” and is associated with the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. Similarly, the ancient Hebrews believed the mandrake could be used to induce conception. This appears in Genesis, where Rachel, supposedly barren, ate mandrake and was able to conceive Joseph.

In the Middle Ages, the fertility powers of mandrake gained new credence under the so-called doctrine of signatures, which held that plants bearing resemblances to body parts could be used to treat their associated limbs and organs. Mandrakes can look rather like babies, so those having trouble conceiving would sleep with them under their pillows. The mandrake roots, not actual babies. Mandrake roots can look strangely human-like. This one needs to get to the gym to take care of those thighs. Wikimedia And it wasn’t just about mandrakes getting people horny and fertile. According to Anthony John Carter, writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine in 2003, medieval folks carried mandrake roots around as good luck charms, hoping the plant would grant them not only wealth and the power to control their destiny, but the ability to control the destinies of others as well. The Catholic Church wasn’t so hot on this, as you can imagine. And unfortunately for Joan of Arc, at her trial in 1431 she was accused of habitually carrying one. She denied this, though it didn’t really matter.

Her accusers seemed more concerned that she dressed like a dude and stuff rather than what kind of vegetation she had in her pockets. Still, the mandrake was widely held to work miracles. But miracles don’t come cheap: The belief in its curative effects led to runaway demand. “Mandrake roots became highly sought after in their native Mediterranean habitat,” Carter writes, “and attempts to protect them from theft are thought to have been the source of” the myth of the ferocious plant. And high demand for a valuable commodity will also, of course, lead to the proliferation of knockoffs. Mandrakes were the veritable luxury purses of the 16th century, and fraudsters went to great lengths to counterfeit the anthropomorphic root. Typically they used bryony , a kind of climbing plant and member of the gourd family, carving it into a human form and, for added realism and perversion, adding wheat or grass for pubic hair.

The great botanist William Turner scolded such hucksters in 1568, sometimes using Y’s instead of I’s presumably for dramatic effect: “The rootes which are counterfited and made like little pupettes or mammettes which come to be sold in England in boxes with heir and such forme as a man hath are nothyng elles but foolishe trifles and not naturall. For they are so trymmed of crafty theves to mocke the poore people with all and to rob them both of theyr wit and theyr money.” To extract mandrakes, simply sacrifice the family dog by tying it to the plant and tempting it with a treat. “I’m gonna go this way,” says the man in red, “so you die instead of me. It’s been real!” Wikimedia It was a far better fate, Turner would have had to admit, than you or your dog dropping dead after getting an earful from a mandrake root. Turner himself described how to prepare mandrake root for anesthesia, making sure to note that it is a rather unpredictable medicine, what with the, you know, putting people into comas.

Accordingly, around this time, notes Carter, the use of mandrake roots in medicine rapidly declined. “The popularity of the myths, however, remained undimmed,” he writes. The mythologizing of the mandrake—all the screaming and growing out of the blood of hanged men and such—shows up in the works of Shakespeare and the dramatist John Webster. They helped seal the villainization of the mandrake, even for several hundred more years. At the turn of the 20th century, for instance, a British bloke digging a garden cut through some of bryony roots. He mistook it for a mandrake, “and ceased to work at once, saying it was ‘awful bad luck.’ Before the week was out, he fell down some steps and broke his neck.” Whether the man’s dog was also injured in the fall, however, remains unclear. The potential irony therefore is sadly lost to history. References: Leach, M. and Fried, J. (1949) Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend. Harper and Row Carter, A. (2003) Myths and Mandrakes. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

96(3): 144–147 Mandragora officinarum, mandrake - THE POISON GARDEN website THE POISON GARDEN website Mandragora officinarum, mandrake Summary One of the most written about plants in history with whole books devoted to its properties and its ability to scream when pulled from the ground. Blog Entries This short video summarising the story of the mandrake is just one of a series. Family Meaning of the Name Mandragora As the plant with more folklore than any other, it is not surprising that there are many stories surrounding the meaning of the name. From this distance in time, it becomes impossible to know if the plant was named for some person or action or that person or action was named for the plant. Mandragora officinarum, mandrake This attempt to explain the name is, mostly, taken from ‘Mystic Mandrake’, C.J.S.Thompson’s 1934 book on the plant and its many stories. The most logical explanation for the name is that it was Latinised from two Sanskrit words; ‘Mandros’, ‘sleep’ and ‘Agora’, ‘substance’.

The whole, therefore, meaning ‘sleep producing drug’. There are, though, attempts to bring its name back to its alleged aphrodisiac properties which are based on the appearance of the root. In Persia, it was called ‘merdomgia’, ‘man-like plant’ and attempts have been made to demonstrate how this could have become corrupted to Mandragora based on the belief that Persia was the place of discovery of the plant. officinarum A variation of ‘officinale’ from the Latin for workshop or office and, thus, given to the species of a plant which was sold in shops or pharmacies and, by extension, a useful plant. Common Names and Synonyms mandrake, Satan's apple. Was Atropa mandragora. How Poisonous, How Harmful? A relative of Atropa belladonna so contains the tropane alkaloids, notably hyoscine (also called scopalamine), hyoscyamine and atropine. Hallucinogenic, narcotic, emetic and purgative. The effects are similar to deadly nightshade and henbane.

Incidents Few reported incidents in recent times for Mandragora officinarum possibly because the plant is no longer used medicinally and is much less frequently grown. In southern Italy, however, and particularly in Sicily accidental poisoning with Mandragora autumnalis is occasionally reported mostly when it is mistaken for Borago officinalis, borage. In March 2015, one such incident was written about by the victim, a British horticulturalist currently working in Sicily, Ben Jones. His account of the episode makes interesting reading. Folklore and Facts Almost no plant has a more detailed folklore with complete books being written about this one plant. What follows is, therefore, only a selection. *As this picture of the root of my own Mandragora demonstrates the idea that a mandrake root always has two 'legs' and a body is as fanciful as the stories associated with it. Mandrake root is supposed to look like the male form (having two legs, a body and, often a hairy top)* and, under the Doctrine of Signatures, its use would give a man that power which men are always willing to spend a lot of money to get.

Its high price was maintained, in part, by the difficulty of harvesting it because, as every Harry Potter fan knows, mandrake screams when you pull it up. The scream was fatal so it was common to tie a dog to the plant and let the dog pull it up and suffer the curse. But the story of the mandrake does not start with J K Rowling. The first known mention of mandrake is disputed. Some sources, even today, maintain that it was known and used in ancient Egypt. This belief that the Egyptians knew and used mandrake root is based on Dr. Joachim’s German translation of the Egyptian Hieratic language word d’d’ or didi. Joachim took this to be from the same root as the Hebrew word dudaim which is the mandrake. However, between Joachim’s late 19thC German translation and Dr. Bryan’s English version, written in 1930, several eminent Egyptologists had concluded that d’d’ was in fact a mineral, haematite. The main evidence of use of mandrake in Egypt is, therefore, suspect.

What remains are designs on various artefacts from Egyptian times which do appear to be stylistic depictions of the mandrake. It is possible that the Egyptians knew of mandrake as an imported extract and the depictions of it were based on descriptions of the plant rather than firsthand observation. For many people, the Old Testament is the first confirmed reference to mandrake. Genesis, chapter 30, verse 14 says that Reuben ‘found mandrakes in the field’ during the wheat harvest. According to Hebrew folklore, however, what Reuben found was a dead donkey which had been tethered to a mandrake and, trying to escape its tether, had pulled the mandrake up and died as a result. This may be the start of the story of the scream which was, almost certainly, perpetuated as a method of avoiding theft of a valuable plant.

Mandragora officinarum, mandrake, the fruits There is a mass of speculation about whether the plant found by Reuben was mandrake and whether it is the same plant described in ‘The Song of Solomon’ chapter 7 verse 13 ‘The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved’. Arguments centre over whether the ‘smell’ was pleasant, since the smell of mandrake is not, at least not to European noses. Some people say that mandrake would not be ripe at the time of wheat harvesting which others counter by saying that Genesis does not say the plant was ripe. And so it goes on. But Genesis is not the only religious connection for mandrake. Those who wish to offer a rational explanation for the alleged resurrection of Jesus Christ sometimes suggest that the sponge he was given to suck from when he complained of thirst on the cross contained juice of the Mandragora which resulted in a deathlike sleep. In Germany, mandrake was kept as a talisman rather than consumed, especially if its shape was particularly manlike.

Often mandrake, or bryony, was uprooted, cut to make its appearance more human and replanted so that the cuts would heal and the shape would appear entirely natural. Such roots were very expensive and kept, in small wooden boxes, for many years, but it was important to take the manikin out on a Friday and give it a bath. Failure to do this would cause the root to shriek until it got its bath. The bath water could be sold to be drunk by a pregnant woman to ease childbirth. Some Literary References to Mandrake. Although not referred to by name, Chaucer, in ‘The Knighte’s Tale’, talks about a wine made of narcotics which made the jailer sleep. In Henry IV, Part 2, Falstaff twice refers to mandrake, comparing Justice Swallow, naked, to the root. In Antony & Cleopatra, Cleopatra asked for Mandragora to help sleep through the time Antony is away. In Othello, Iago says that the Moor’s jealousy is preventing him from sleep and neither mandrake nor opium could help.

Some sources think Juliet took mandrake to induce her deathlike sleep and this power is also alluded to in Cymbeline. The shriek of pulling it up is mentioned in Romeo & Juliet and King Henry VI and its power to cause insanity comes into Macbeth. Ben Jonson in Masque of Queens has a witch talk of gathering the root. Marlowe in the Jew of Malta effects Barabas’s escape from prison by having him drink mandrake so that he is thought to be dead. Webster in the Duchess of Malfi makes several references to mandrake. There are many other references in less well known works and there was even a silent film, made in the 1920s, where mandrake growing at the feet of a hanged man played a major role in the plot. Though not mentioned by name, some have argued that the ‘love potion’ in Wagner’s ‘Tristan & Isolde’ was based on mandrake. The belief that mandrake grew under a gallows was widespread but had numerous refinements. In Wales and parts of Germany, it grew from the tears of an innocent man, hanged.

Elsewhere in Germany, the requirement was that the hanged man be the son of a family of thieves or someone whose mother stole when pregnant. Thus, the hanged man had not chosen to be a thief but could not avoid the family business and so retained some degree of innocence. Sometimes, the hanged man had to have never had sexual intercourse. Generally, bodily fluids other than tears were what caused the mandrake to grow. The ritual surrounding the harvesting of mandrake has many variations. Sometimes, it is essential that a black dog is used. Sometimes, the dog must be starving so that throwing a piece of meat will cause it to lunge forward. In parts of Eastern Europe, it was essential that only an expert attempt to uproot a mandrake as any damage caused to the root would be replicated on the person who caused it. In Armenia, the mandrake was to be visited on three successive days in the company of a young and handsome virgin prior to being harvested.

The idea of a, probably, lusty young man, going into the woods to visit a plant with the alleged properties of mandrake in the company of a young, handsome virgin makes one wonder whether, by the third day, the young woman still fulfilled the required criteria. Leonhart Fuchs in 'De historia stirpium' says ‘Mountebanks and fakers hanging around the marketplace are peddling roots shaped in human form they claim are Mandragora although it is quite evident that they are fashioned and made by hand from canna roots carved in human likeness’. Canna roots are a commercial source of starch so this deception may have been less harmful than using the purgative bryony . Though not, generally, a key component of the 'soporific sponge', used to achieve anaesthesia for the performance of surgery, mandrake does feature in some recipes. The precise origin of the sponge recipe is impossible to determine but one of the first published accounts is found in the 'Antidotarium' of Nicolaus Salernitanus, Nicholas of Salerno, printed in 1470 but which would have to have been written in the 12th century if it is the work of Nicholas.

In this recipe, the normally quoted formula of opium , henbane and hemlock is augmented with mulberry juice, mandrake, ivy and lettuce . A sponge would be soaked in the juice of these plants and then dried to be held in stock until required. Wetting the sponge and placing it over the patient's nose and mouth resulted in the inhalation of the narcotic fumes. It is said that sleep lasting up to 96 hours could be achieved so that the body had the opportunity to recover from the trauma of surgery as well as the patient being insensible during the procedure. On the subject of the supposed manlike shape of the root, John Gerard, after noting that the division of the mandrake root is no different from that often seen with carrot or parsnip and such like, goes off on one of his rants about the tales associated with the plant. ‘There have been many ridiculous tales...[put about by] some one or more who sought to make themselves famous and skilful above others.’ He cites its alleged growth under the gallows and ‘many other such doltish dreams’ including ‘many fables of loving matters, too full of scurrilitie to set forth in print’.

He also talks of ‘idle drones’ who carved the roots of bryony to convince ‘simple and unlearned people’ that this was ‘the true mandrake’. Site Update All the pages in the A to Z section are regularly updated. Medieval Bestiary : Mandrake General Attributes The mandrake is a plant; its roots grow in human form, male and female, and shriek when torn from the ground. It is of great use in medicine, but anyone who hears the plant's cry dies or goes mad. It was therefore a custom to tie a hungry dog to the plant by a cord and place a piece of meat beyond its reach. To get at the meat the dog tugged at the cord and dragged up the plant, while its master remained safely out of hearing. The mandrake grows in the East, near Paradise. In order to conceive, the female elephant must eat some mandrake root. The mandrake is also described in medieval herbals, such as British Library Harley MS 4986 (twelfth century) ( Druce translation, adapted): 'If you want to gather the mandrake because of its great health-giving qualities, you shall gather it in this wise.

It shines at night like a lamp, and when you see it mark it round quickly with iron lest it escape you. For so strong is this power in it, that if it sees an unclean man coming to it, it runs away. So for this reason mark it round with iron and dig about it, taking care that you do not touch it with the iron; but remove the earth from it with the utmost care with an ivory stake, and when you have seen the foot of the plant and its hands, then you shall at once bind the plant with a new rope, and you shall tie the same round the neck of a hungry dog, and in front of it place food at a little distance, so that in its eagerness to get the food it may pull out the plant. Again you may get it out in another way. Make an apparatus like a mangonel instead and fix in it a tall rod, to the top of which you shall tie a new rope to which also the plant is tied; and you shall make it work as a kind of mousetrap from a distance, when the rod springing back pulls out the plant by its own force.

And when you have got it unbroken in your hands, presently store the juice of the leaves in a glass jar, and so will you keep it as a remedy for human beings.' ... There are six cures described. The first is for a head-ache which prevents sleep. For this a salve is made with the juice and applied to the forehead as a plaster, 'when the pain in the head is soon relieved, and sleep will come again quickly.' The second is for pain in the ears. The juice must be mixed with oil of nard and the mixture poured into the ears, 'when the patient will be cured with wonderful quickness.' The third is for a severe attack of gout. You must take of the right hand and the right foot of the mandrake a scruple each and grind it to powder, and administer in wine for seven days, when the patient will be quickly cured; and it causes not only the swelling but also the contraction of the muscles to recover themselves, and so 'both these troubles are cured in a wonderful way as has been proved by the author's experiments.' The fourth cure is for epileptics, that is for persons who have fallen in fits or who suffer from spasms.

One scruple of the body of the plant is ground up and given to the patient in hot water, 'as full as the vessel can hold, and immediately he will be cured.' The fifth is for cramp and contraction of the muscles. 'Make a powder, very fine, of the body of this plant and mix it with sweet oil, and smear it upon those persons who have the troubles mentioned.' The sixth cure is interesting. 'If a cold in the head, of a particularly virulent kind, has appeared in the house, the mandrake plant-however little they have of it inside the house-drives away all the infection.' The source of the plant has been described thus: "The human shape of the mandrake root has probably helped to foster, if it did not originate, the weird notion that the plant springs from the drippings of a man hanged on a gallows. Hence in Germany the plant bears the popular name of the Little Gallows Man.

It is, or used to be, believed in that country that when a hereditary thief, born of a family of thieves, or one whose mother stole while he was in her womb, is hanged on a gallows, and his seed or urine falls on the ground, the mandrake or Little Gallows Man sprouts on the spot. Others, however, say that the human progenitor of the plant must be, not a thief, but an innocent and chaste youth who has been forced by torture falsely to declare himself a thief and has consequently ended his days on a gallows. Be that as it may, the one thing about which all are agreed is that the Little Gallows Man grows under the gallows tree from the bodily droppings of a hanged man." ( Frazer , p. 9) Sources (chronological order) Pliny the Elder [1st century CE] (Natural History, Book 25, 94): Pliny says that there are two varieties, the white mandragora which is generally thought to be the male plant, and the black, which is considered to be the female.

It has a leaf narrower than that of the lettuce, a hairy stem, and a double or triple root, black without and white within, soft and fleshy, and nearly a cubit in length. Both kinds bear a fruit about the size of a hazel-nut. . . . The leaves of the female plant are broader than those of the male. (from Bodleian Library MS. Bodley 764 [c. 1225-50 CE] ( Druce translation): 'The mandrake is so called because it has sweet-smelling fruit of the size of the Martian apple, and because of this the Latins call it "earth-apple." The poets (in some manuscripts erroneously "prophets") call this plant "man-shaped," because it has a root resembling the human form. The rind when mixed with wine is given as a drink to persons whose bodies are to be operated on for a cure, so that under its soporific influence they may not feel the pain (variant: is given as a drink in different cases of sickness. And its stem when thirty years old is carefully gathered for the healing of many complaints).

There are two varieties of this plant, the female with leaves resembling those of the lettuce, and producing fruit like plums, and the male with leaves like the beet.' Then follows the Sermo, which is based on the allusions to the mandrake in Canticles (vii, 13) and Genesis (xxx, 14): 'In the song of songs the bride says of the mandrake: The mandrakes have given forth a smell in our gates. The mandrake for its manifold uses in medicine is comparable with the virtues of holy men. The gates of the church are the holy doctors. In gates of this kind the mandrakes give a smell when spiritually minded men, one and all, scatter far and wide the fame of their virtues. And one may read in Genesis how Reuben the son of Leah went out into the field and found mandrakes and gave them to his mother Leah; which signifies the good reputation which every diligent person acquires amongst men of this world.

This may be applied to our mother church; as the apostle says of one about to be ordained bishop: he ought to be well testified of by those without; who, although they have had little learning, yet generally shed the lustre of praise and the odour of good opinion on the efforts of those from whom they obtain counsel.' Bartholomaeus Anglicus [13th century] (De proprietatibus rerum, book 17): [Mandragora] sodden in wine cause sleep, and abate all manner of soreness, and so that time a man feeleth unneth though he be cut, but yet Mandragora must be warily used: for it slayeth if men take much thereof.... They that dig Mandragora be busy to beware of contrary winds while they dig, and make three circles about with a sword, and abide with the digging unto the sun going down, and trow so to have the herb with the chief virtues. ( Steele edition of 1905) Illustration The mandrake is usually depicted as a huminoid plant, sometimes as a tiny human with roots or leaves.

The scene of the dog being used to uproot the mandrake is shown in British Library, Harley MS 1585 (f. 57r); in British Library, Royal MS 2 B. vii (f. 119v) a male and a female mandrake hang by leafy feet from a rope attached to a dog. Description 1000+ images about Mandrake on Pinterest | The plant, Wicca and Search Forward Mandrake is the common name for members of the plant genus Mandragora belonging to the nightshades family (Solanaceae). Because mandrake contains deliriant hallucinogenic tropane alkaloids such as atropine, scopolamine, apoatropine, hyoscyamine and the roots sometimes contain bifurcations causing them to resemble human figures, their roots have long been used in magic rituals, today also in neopagan religions such as Wicca and Germanic revivalism religions such as Odinism.

See More Weird and Poisonous Plants | myMotherLode.com Weird and Poisonous Plants 11/02/2014 1:10 am PST Francie McGowan, UCCE Master Gardener of Tuolumne County All Hallow’s Eve is almost upon us, and the night will be a-buzz with spooky spirits, dead and undead, walking the earth as the veil between the spirit world and the living world fades. This is the night when witches fly on birch brooms and mix up deadly potions in order to work their dark magic, spreading disorder and mayhem in their wake. The herbs and poisonous plants they used are legendary and are infused with superstitious lore. The plant kingdom is host to thousands of weird and eerie floral growths, many of them ghastly, and many of them deadly if touched or ingested. Some we are familiar with because, according to legend, they have been used in witches’ potions or used to ward off evil. Others, while not necessarily poisonous, look as if they just stepped out of a horror film.

Here are a few: Bleeding tooth fungus (Hydnellum peckii): Hydnellum peckii is a mycorrhizal species, and forms mutually beneficial relationships with a variety of coniferous trees. It grows on the ground in masses, scattered around, or alone. When they are still young, they “bleed” a bright red, oozy juice that has anticoagulant properties. When it ages, it turns a nondescript brown and loses its horrific appearance. Dracula orchid (Dracula vampira) There are 118 species of Dracula orchids, ranging from dark purple to black, with a bat-like appearance. They are mostly found in Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Like their namesake, they prefer a cool, dank, shadowy habitat. Black Bat Flower (Tacca chantrieri): The bat flower has ears and whiskers. It is jet black and very spooky looking. This rare plant grows wild in China, but in this country, it is difficult to grow. It needs shade, well-drained soil, just the right amount of water, and temperatures no lower than 30 degrees.

Carrrion plant (Stapelia gigantea) This plant is a dark red and, when in bloom, smells like rotting flesh. Flies are attracted to the smell and, in landing on the plant, they pick up pollen and carry it to another plant. In some botanical gardens the public is warned before they enter the area where the plant grows that the smell can be overwhelming. While these plants are nasty-looking or smelling, there are many more serious, deadly poisonous plants: Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna): This plant is so poisonous that even touching it can make your skin break out in blisters. It is in the same family as potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. Witches used the juices in many of their brews, according to folklore. The belladonna comes from the Italian and means “beautiful lady.” Apparently, Italian women would take just a little and the atropine in the plant would cause the pupils of their eyes dilate, making them more alluring to men. Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger): According to legend, this plant was one of the ingredients in witches’ flying potions.

A salve made from this plant, rubbed on the skin, would produce a hallucinogenic flying sensation. It was one of the ingredients traditionally used in beers as a flavoring, until replaced by hops in the 11th to 16th centuries (for example, the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516 outlawed ingredients other than barley, hops, yeast, and water). Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum): Mandrake is part of the nightshade family and contains the deliriant, hallucinogenic atropine, among other hallucinogenic chemicals. It was believed, in Greek and Roman times that mandrake would shriek when its root was pulled out of the ground. The shrieks would kill anyone who heard them. In J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter,” there is a scene where the students have to replant mandrakes. They are given ear muffs to protect them from the screams. The Romans believed that mandrake root would cure demonic possession. The Greeks used it in love potions. Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum): This plant is in the carrot family. The young plants emerge in the spring.

The leaves look like parsley and carrot tops and are sadly sometimes mistaken for them. It is also related to the dill, fennel and anise family. Hemlock is highly poisonous and was administered to Socrates in his jail cell after he was tried and sentenced to death for corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens. He died of the concoction in 399B.C.E. Tomorrow night all the goblins and creepy crawlies of Halloween will be out trick-or-treating. After browsing through some of the poison plant books and articles, it appears that we need not don masks and costumes to be scary. Mother Nature can be a very spooky lady. Francie McGowan is a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener of Tuolumne County.

mandrake - definition, etymology and usage, examples and related words mandrake Definitions WordNet 3.6 n mandrake a plant of southern Europe and North Africa having purple flowers, yellow fruits and a forked root formerly thought to have magical powers n mandrake the root of the mandrake plant; used medicinally or as a narcotic *** Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary mandrake (Bot) A low plant (Mandragora officinarum) of the Nightshade family, having a fleshy root, often forked, and supposed to resemble a man. It was therefore supposed to have animal life, and to cry out when pulled up. All parts of the plant are strongly narcotic. It is found in the Mediterranean region. "And shrieks like mandrakes , torn out of the earth, That living mortals, hearing them, run mad." mandrake (Bot) The May apple (Podophyllum peltatum). See May apple under May, and Podophyllum. *** Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia n mandrake A plant of the genus Mandragora.

The mandrake has poisonous properties, and acts as an emetic, purgative, and narcotic. It was in use in ancient times especially for its narcotic effects, and is said to have been employed as an anesthetic. It has been regarded as an aphrodisiac, and used in amorous incantations, as a love-amulet, etc. According to an old fancy the mandrake shrieks when pulled from the ground. The resemblance of its commonly forked root to the human body is probably the ground of this superstition, as well as of the repute of the plant as an aphrodisiac. n mandrake The May-apple, Podophyllum peltatum. n mandrake In heraldry, a figure resembling a root with two long and pointed bifurcations usually twisted together, and the whole crowned with leaves and berries. n mandrake The enchanter's nightshade, Circæa Lutetiana. *** Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary n Mandrake man′drāk a plant of the genus Mandragora, with narcotic properties, once regarded as an aphrodisiac, shrieking when pulled out of the ground *** AS.

mandragora, L. mandragoras, fr. Gr. mandrago`ras: cf. F. mandragore, Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary It is the first time he has known refusal, and it maddens him like mandrake. "The Proud Prince" by Justin Huntly McCarthy His style shrieks sometimes like a ghoul tugging at the roots of a mandrake. "Visions and Revisions" by John Cowper Powys There some men gave him a mandrake, and on his return home he found a bag of ducats on the table. "Storyology" by Benjamin Taylor The narcotic plant, the mandrake, is also credited with groaning, though I cannot say I have ever heard it. "Byways of Ghost-Land" by Elliott O'Donnell Turning first to Germany, we note the beliefs, not about the potato, but about another vegetable, the mandrake. "Custom and Myth" by Andrew Lang Both mandrake and periwinkle were supposed to be endowed with mysterious powers against demoniacal possession.

"The Old English Herbals" by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde The common Watershield, the Nelumbium, and the White Water-lily, and also the Mandrake, exhibit this sort of leaf. "The Elements of Botany" by Asa Gray Mandrake was employed, and has not as yet gone entirely out of use. "The Popes and Science" by James J. Walsh In the earlier part of the same chapter is a story relating to mandrakes, which were supposed to have influence on human generation. "Homo-culture" by Martin Luther Holbrook His views are the outcome of a long and sluggish growth, and cling like mandrakes to the roots of his being. "The African Colony" by John Buchan On past cool deeps of poplar, where the mandrake grew, and the sweet fern spread its magnificent leaves. "Rose of Dutcher's Coolly" by Hamlin Garland They identify it with the mandrake. "Wild Life in a Southern County" by Richard Jefferies To our food was added an almost unlimited supply of wild gooseberries and blackberries, and the mandrake apples were ripening.

"The Cassowary" by Stanley Waterloo You shou'd speak it like a Ghost, like a Giant, like a Mandrake, and you speak it like a Mouse. "The Female Wits" by Anonymous Powdered mandrake, 1 table-spoonful. Mandrake Facts for Kids | KidzSearch.com L. Illustration of mandrake in a textbook fo the 15th century Mandrake is the common name of a number of plants in the Nightshade family , genus Mandragora. The roots often look like man or woman , or can be easily made to resemble them. The plant has been used in witchcraft for a long time. According to this literature, the plant shrieks in pain, when it is pulled from the ground. This shriek is able to make a person deaf. He might also lose his mind, or even be killed, if he is unprotected. Mandrake (Mandragora officinalis) has been used as an anaestethic for a long time. For this, it was usually prepared in an alcoholic solution.

Question: According to folklore, which plant shrieks when pulled from the ground?
Answer: MANDRAKE